SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE THE VOICE THAT CRIES IN THE DESERT. BUT I’M NOT ALONE: Happy July 4th! Happy Independence Day
IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY, OR WHAT? Nathan’s Famous hot dog-eating champs to defend titles in secret locale:“The July Fourth tradition, usually held outside Nathan’s original location on Coney Island’s Surf and Stillwell avenues, will this year take place at a private location in the neighborhood, without a live audience and with COVID-19 safety protocols in place…‘You can’t cancel Thanksgiving, you can’t cancel Christmas and you can’t cancel the Fourth of July,’[competition host George Shea] said. ‘And canceling the hot-dog contest would be like canceling the Fourth of July. That is why we had to make it work one way or another.’”
Yet On 4th of July this story caught our attention:
“It's far from clear that the next US President will be able to roll back the consequences of this week, which leave both Presidents Vladimir Putinin Moscow and Xi Jinping in Beijing more decisively in control of their own countries and more able to act assertively.
In other words, Trump has made an indelible mark on the world -- and it may not be for the good.
It is no coincidence that Putin and Xi have cemented their grip on cherished goals, as the clock runs down on Trump's first, and possibly only, term in office.
“At a large and raucous Beijing business dinner two years ago, I sat next to a former Chinese ambassador. The trade war was just beginning to ramp up, but tariffs on solar panels, washing machines, steel, soybeans and aluminum were already biting into China's bottom line.
The diplomat, who had spent many years in Europe, told me in very precise terms that Trump was intentionally preventing China taking its rightful place in the world as a high-tech advanced economy.”
Women in Vladimir’s life
The Russian president has manipulated the levers of power to rule Russia 🇷🇺
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